Joy – Sermon Illustration Ideas

Home for the Holidays

Christmas, coffee, commercial, Family, Joy, Prodigal Son, restored

In 1985, Folgers debuted a commercial that they would run every year at Christmastime for the next twelve years. It ran for such a…

All Things Right

God's Promises, Hope In Christ, Joy, Waiting

If you’ve ever been on a road trip with small children, you know they relentlessly ask, “How much longer till we get there?” It…

Happiness

Character, Comfort, Happiness, Joy

The animated movie Trolls describes the overly happy creatures called trolls and the overly negative creatures called Bergens (directed by Mike Mitchell and Walt…

Giving Thanks

Feeling, Giving Thanks, Joy, Thankful, Trusting God

As a young woman, Joni Eareckson Tada became a wheelchair-bound quadriplegic due to a diving accident. Through her many years of suffering, Joni has…

Ten Things I Love about You

Contentment, Friendship, Happiness, Joy, Perspective

Sometimes it can be hard to focus on what is true in a world of lies, or to find what is just when there…

Living in the Present

Contentment, Happiness, Joy, Life, Perspective, Time

The film About Time starts as a science-fiction story about a time traveler. In the end, the main character has learned how to live…

Rejoicing In God

Contentment, Faith, Joy, Rejoice, Rejoicing

When we learn how to rejoice in God regularly, it prepares us to be content during the worst times. A seminary professor had a…

Hardwired

Creation, Design, Following God, Generosity, Giving, Happiness, Joy, Purpose

It is amazing how God has hardwired our brains and bodies to even function in ways that reward us following him. While it is…

Our Objective Reality

Attitude, Feelings, Gratitude, Joy, Knowing God, Knowledge, Praise, Reality, Thanksgiving, Trusting God, Worship

Our attitude of joy is a result of our thanksgiving to God. We should not base our attitude on our circumstances, because those always…

Pilgrim For A Day

Contentment, Gratitude, Joy, Perspective, Thankfulness, Thanks, Thanksgiving

A. J. Jacobs, a New York Times bestselling author, is known for his unconventional experiments. In the early 2000s, he spent 18 months learning…

Tension

Already And Not Yet, Grief, Hope, Joy, Perseverance, Perspective, Suffering, Tension, Trials

Living with joy and hope amid pain requires an ability to live in tension. We can’t just deny the pain and pretend like all…

Child’s Play

Child, Child-like, Child's Play, Children, Father, Humble Ourselves, Interruptions, Joy, Mother, Others

Children have the uncanny ability to express the most sincere and basic reactions to what we might perceive as an insincere and complicated world….

Anchored Joy

1 Peter 4:13, 2 Corinthians 12:10-11, Anchor, Devotion, Feelings, Fickle, Finite, Happiness, Hebrews 16:19, Isaiah 12:3, Job 5:17, Joy, Love, Stability, Truth

In a piece for The Gospel Coalition, Ryan Hoselton compares the artist Pharrell and Augustine’s views on happiness. “The truth is that viewing happiness…

Motivated By Love

1 Chronicles 16:29, Duty, God's Anger, God's Beauty, Isaiah 33:17, Joy, Love, Motivation, Obedience, Penalty, Practicality, Psalm 118:24, Psalm 27:4, Psalm 50:1-2, Striving

In answering a question about the motivation for obeying the Lord, Tim Keller said, “In the long run, you should always do the right…

Open Your Gifts

1 Corinthians 12:12, 1 Corinthians 12:28, 1 Peter 4:10-11, Active, Blessing, Ephesians 4:11, Gifted, Joy, Minister, Opportunity, Romans 12:6-8, Self-Sacrifice, Spiritual Gifts, The Church, Willing

Every Christian is spiritually gifted in one area or another. In an article for Lifeway, Tom Blackaby describes how to use your spiritual gifts…

The Essence of God

2 Corinthians 9:7, Acts 20:35, Benefit, Cost, Giving, God's Essence, Imago Dei, Joy, Love, Luke 6:38, Matthew 6:1-34, Meeting Needs, Proverbs 11:24-25, Serving, The Giver

“The same writer of John 3:16 says in 1 John 4:8, “God is love.” Which I take to mean at least this: giving what’s…

Homecoming

1 John 5:4, Forgiveness, Humility, Invitation, Jeremiah 29:11, John 10:10, Joy, Love, Matthew 6:33, Persistence, Pride, Prodigal, Psalm 51:12, Restoration, Welcome

In No Wonder They Call Him Savior, Max Lucado shares a story about a woman seeking her lost daughter: “Longing to leave her poor…

Equal Value

Brothers, Cerebral Palsy, Colossians 1:15, Colossians 3:10, Disability, Genesis 1:26, Genesis 1:27, Grace, Inclusion, James 3:9, Joy, Sacrifice, Universal, Value, Worth

Cayden, born with cerebral palsy, was unable to help himself. His parents said they were told he would be helpless, a “vegetable” his whole…

Faithful Marriage

1 Corinthians 13:4-8, Commitment, Deuteronomy 23:21-23, Endurance, Faithful, Faithfulness, God's Glory, Hosea 2:20, Image of God, Joy, Love, Marriage, Pixar, Proverbs 3:5-6, Romans 12:9

In the opening scenes of the Pixar movie Up, Carl and Ellie’s marriage is summed up by just a few moments, with no one…

The Stockdale Paradox

2 Corinthians 12:7-10, Comfort, Confidence, Endurance, Isaiah 40:29-31, Joy, Perseverance, Psalm 119:50, Psalm 22:24, Psalm 23:4, Running The Race, Seeking Truth, Suffering, Trust

In this video (3 minute mark), Dr. Dennis Charney explains the “Stockdale Paradox,” a way of thinking that acknowledges the challenge being faced while…